bicycling
26. September, 17:37 Uhr
So apparently this guy is biking across the US to lose weight and win back his estranged wife. That's cool, I guess. He could have lost the weight by eating less, and that would have been much easier. But I won't knock someone for wanting to cycle.
This venture, however, seems like a scam of some sort.
His website has a link to a [GoFundMe account](https://www.gofundme.com/fatguy2015) where he's raised just over $11,000. Now there's nothing out of the ordinary about that; he'll have some expenses, after all.
But here's where it gets weird.
His blog says he[ began ](http://www.fatguyacrossamerica.com/journal/2015/6/10/hitting-the-road)on June 10th, but he only [just arrived to Times Square](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-cheers-fat-guy-america-3-200-mile-trek-article-1.2372562) on September 24th. That means that it's taken him 106 days to cycle [251 miles](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Times+Square,+Manhattan,+NY/Falmouth,+MA/@41.5867679,-70.5926797,7z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25855c6480299:0x55194ec5a1ae072e!2m2!1d-73.985131!2d40.758895!1m5!1m1!1s0x89e4d0ca83e860f3:0xb581647734b66134!2m2!1d-70.6085886!2d41.5532208). Over three months to cover what a car does in 4 hours.
So unless I'm missing something, **he's averaging 2.37 miles per day**. What the hell.
I'm not sure where he plans on stopping, but let's say he goes to San Diego. That's roughly 3,000 miles from where he began. **At his current rate, the total trip will take him 1,266 days. That's roughly 3.5 years!**
Look, I'm all for inspirational stories and people achieving what seems impossible. But something about this just makes my bullshit-detector go crazy. An overweight person could *walk* across the United States at a faster pace.
Maybe I should just do what his Facebook page says and ask AEP Media what's going on:
> For all media and business inquiries, please contact AEP Media at aepmedia.fgaa@gmail.com
Media and business inquiries? I thought this was about losing weight and getting back his wife?
Regardless, this guy is barely covering two miles a day and trying to sell it as an "inspirational story" to raise money. That's a red flag. The whole endeavor seems shady to me, and I can't believe it's received both [national](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/fat-guy-bikes-america-save-marriage-health/story?id=32645578) [and](http://time.com/3969005/fat-guy-biking/) [international](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3171503/Man-weighs-600lbs-biking-country-shape-losing-wife-job-result-weight.html) [news](http://www.irishexaminer.com/examviral/real-life/this-40-stone-man-is-changing-his-life-by-attempting-to-cycle-across-america-344176.html) [coverage](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/07/30/fat-guy-cycle-cross-country-ride/30876387/). Why does this get attention, while someone like Iron Cowboy practically slipped under the radar until he was finished? Are we really that hungry for the "fat person achieves the impossible" trope that we'll promote a guy riding roughly two miles a day?
Anyway, I just saw this and did a bit of searching to see what's going on. Thanks for reading my little rant.
**Edit:**
It sounds like the guy is a bit of a drifter with a history of shady behavior.
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